The Fate of the Dirty Harry Trestle

The Fate of the Dirty Harry Trestle

Fans of the original Dirty Harry (1971) have always had a certain ‘fascination’ with the trestle or the ‘Dirty Harry Bridge’ as it has widely come to be known.  It was featured of course during the climax of the film when Harry makes the jump from the trestle onto the school bus.

A few months ago, our U.S. correspondent Kevin Walsh sent me a couple of pieces which centred on the dismantling of the trestle and a picture illustrating one of the many protests that took place in an attempt to stop the removal of this historic and iconic landmark. The issue of the trestle removal was brought to a head in June 2003 when the bridge was damaged by a tractor trailer carrying a mounted crane. The crane was a load too high to pass under the structure. It struck and damaged the main beam on a section of the wooden trestle. The City of Larkspur declared the damaged bridge a hazard to public safety, determined it could not be repaired, and ordered it removed. 

Above: Removal of 100 feet of the trestle was completed in August 2003 despite significant protests by bicyclists and others.

The replacement for the trestle (below) is an upscale bicycle and pedestrian bridge that cost $13 million. The contemporary, unadorned steel bridge is notable for its long unsupported centre span as well as a lack of any reference to the site’s railroad heritage.

It was some 19 years ago that we (a group of Eastwood fans) became aware that the famous Dirty Harry Trestle was going to be demolished for good. A good few of us felt that this was a great tragedy as it really remained an important landmark. So some of us worked with a local friend in order to save the section of the rail from which Clint jumped onto the school bus. It was all worked out perfectly (geographically) - it was studied and researched as to which lane the bus was travelling and from there worked out exactly which portion of the rail track Clint was standing on to leap onto the bus. Working with the construction company that was dismantling the trestle the piece was measured and a form of 'laser cutting' process was used to cleanly cut it into sections. What we were left with was a nice, unusual piece of nostalgia. Yes, essentially, it’s just a heavy piece of steel, but something I have never regretted owning. In fact, I look at it on my window seal every day and still love it, knowing the history and relevance behind it. If anything, it certainly makes for a perfect conversation piece.  

In February 1976, a fan and a group of his friends made the pilgrimage to the famous location, but not before making their own Dirty Harry cut-out! Like a lot of fans, they also worked out a position and proceeded to climb the trestle and nail their own Dirty Harry tribute to the famous landmark.

 

In the Line of Fire Director Wolfgang Peterson dies aged 81

In the Line of Fire Director Wolfgang Peterson dies aged 81

Director Wolfgang Petersen, whose German-language film “Das Boot” launched a successful Hollywood filmmaking career that included star-studded films like “Air Force One”, “The Perfect Storm” and the excellent Eastwood thriller “In the Line of Fire” has died. He was 81.

Petersen died on Friday with his wife Maria Antoinette by his side after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Petersen’s film “Das Boot” or “The Boat” (1981) launched his career in Hollywood after the close-quarters WWII submarine drama received six Academy Award nominations. The film starred Jürgen Prochnow as the German U-boat Captain, and was made into an English language miniseries by the BBC.

Peterson quickly became one of the most in-demand directors of technically complex star-driven studio action films — a run that included The Perfect Storm (2000), Air Force One (1997), Outbreak (1995), Shattered (1991) — which he also wrote — Troy (2004) and Poseidon (2006).

In 1993, Peterson directed Clint in the excellent thriller, In the Line of Fire (1993). In the Line of Fire arrived as Eastwood decided to take a short break from directing following completion of Unforgiven and A Perfect World. Hiring Peterson as director alleviated additional stress and allowed Clint to fully immerse himself into the role of actor. It turned out to be a very wise move, and resulted in a superb performance from Clint - and a finished film that many fans regard as one of their very favourites.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote: "It's movie making of the high, smooth, commercial order that Hollywood prides itself on but achieves with singular infrequency."

Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four, writing: "Most thrillers these days are about stunts and action. In the Line of Fire has a mind."  

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called the film "crisply entertaining". He praised the casting, "Malkovich’s insinuating, carefully thought out delivery is in the same way an ideal foil for Eastwood’s bluntly straightforward habits", and Eastwood "every part of this film trades so heavily on Eastwood’s presence that it is impossible to imagine it with anyone else in the starring role."

He was well-liked amongst his peers and admired by the talent he worked with including Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Rene Russo, Glenn Close, Mark Wahlberg, Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman and Diane Lane.

“Being directed by Wolfgang on Air Force One remains a special memory,” Glenn Close said in a statement Tuesday. “Even though the script was thrilling and incredibly intense, I remember a lot of laughs, especially in the scenes around the huge table in the War Room. Wolfgang set a remotely controlled camera that could rotate in place, seamlessly covering all of us, one after another. You knew the camera would pause on you by his hilarious direction while setting up the shot.”

Born on March 14, 1941, in Emden, Germany, Petersen began his directing career with short films and TV movies in the 1960s and ’70s. His first theatrical pic was One or the Other (1974), and he followed that with The Consequence in 1977, for which he also penned the adapted screenplay.

In addition to his wife, Petersen is survived by his son, Daniel, and two grandchildren. 

Funeral services will be private.

RIP Sir.

NATO’s Male Star of the Year 1971 Rare Warner Bros One Day Advertisement

NATO’s Male Star of the Year 1971 Rare Warner Bros One Day Advertisement

Here’s a nice and very rare One Day only, full page advertisement published by Warner Bros. and congratulating Clint on his receiving of NATO’s Male Star of the Year award in 1971. The winning female that year was Actress Ali MacGraw who was enjoying a wave of success after the film Love Story. This full page Ad, appeared in the trade paper Variety on October 28th 1971, and was perfect timing as Dirty Harry was scheduled to be released just a couple of months later in December 1971. 

I’ve been meaning to post this ad for a long time now, but the original source image I had (whist a good resolution) was rather badly yellowed and photographed slightly off angle. So it needed to be fully digitally restored including its tone and lighting re-balanced and some text realigning.  It’s been quite a job but now looks more true to how it would have looked when it first appeared over 50 years ago. 

For people who may not know, we have quite an extensive couple of posts in regards to this event, with a great deal of superb colour and b/w photos. I contacted NATO many years back, and they were instrumental in providing a wealth of material for use here on the Archive - for which I am still so very grateful. They were absolutely excellent.

The original post can be found (HERE) and the follow up post (HERE) they are well worth revisiting. 

Paramount / Wink Paint Your Wagon colouring competition

Paramount / Wink colouring competition

Here’s a throwback to the days of great film tie-in and promotions and features a colouring competition where you could win yourself a brand new Volkswagen Beetle! The competition was a promotion between both Paramount and Wink (a U.S. drink brand) and designed to tie-in with the release of Paint Your Wagon. Yes! Paint your Wagon! Now it all becomes clear…

A nice bit of vintage promotion that we sadly seldom see today and a real trip to yesteryear. 

Oh and if you are lucky enough to find one of these don’t worry about entering, the closing date was midnight, May 15th… 1969! 

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #28

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #28

I've not posted a Photo Opportunity since June, and with the amount of photos I have on file I really should try and make this some monthly task. There are so many great photos that simply need to be seen.

Here's a cracking photo of Clint and his former wife, Maggie Johnson, attending the party for the Annual Celebrity Tennis Tournament, held at the La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California on 26th June 1971.

The Man who loved Cat Dancing Premiere

The Man who loved Cat Dancing Premiere

Here’s a nice selection of photos from the premiere of the Burt Reynolds western film, The Man who loved Cat Dancing. The premiere took place on Tuesday June 26th, 1973 at the Regency Village Theatre, Los Angeles. 

Clint and Maggie Eastwood as long-time friends of Reynolds and his partner Dinah Shore both attended the Premiere. Clint at this time was in the middle of shooting Magnum Force (1973) which began shooting in the April in and around California and which no doubt made it easier to fit into his schedule.

Some of these photos of Clint will probably be familiar to most fans, the standard tux and bow tie attire often leaves little room for identifying one event from another, whilst the ladies do tend to mix their dress - and therefore helps in pinpointing what they were wearing where and when…

So a good bit of hard research went into this piece in order to check and double check, and as a result we feel pretty confident that these all originate from the Burt Reynolds premiere. I would also like to thank one of our administrators, Steve Saragossi who again helped to gather this information.

The Man who loved Cat Dancing opened to mixed reviews, New York critics were not too taken by it, while West coast critics appeared to praise it more. Roger Greenspun of The New York Times said, “The film's poetry is as numbing as its violence. The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing is, indeed, a kind of festival of incompetence. Each shot is held slightly too long or too short, and is somehow off-centre. Each performance is uncertain, like something seen in an early rehearsal.”  In contrast, Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times liked the movie. He noted the complications in making the picture. He concluded "In spite of the difficulties faced by the actors and filmmakers, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing boasts gorgeous widescreen location photography and an interesting feminist spin on traditional western formulas”

And indeed there were some difficulties during the shoot. While filming in Arizona, Sarah Miles' personal assistant, David Whiting, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in her hotel room at Gila Bend, Arizona, on February 11th. An inquest into the death was heard. MGM objected to Miles and Reynolds appearing on the grounds that it would hold up production. A doctor gave evidence that the death was due to a drug overdose, and the head injury came from Whiting falling against a table. Filming of the unit shifted to Rio Rico, Arizona.

Reynolds spoke very little about the film, simply saying "it's not as good as the book." Speaking in 1976, Reynolds said, "There's nothing to talk about in Cat Dancing except that it brings me pain, so I'd rather not talk about it."

Clint mini season Fox promo from 2004

Here's a rather nice and recently discovered little gem, a TV advertising spot for a Fox channel mini season of films to tie in with Clint's birthday back in 2004.